


Safe With Nanny

by QueridaMyDear



Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Comfort, Crying, Gen, Touch-Starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 12:23:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20275864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueridaMyDear/pseuds/QueridaMyDear
Summary: The reader has been crying when Nanny Ashtoreth finds them and provides some much needed comfort.





	Safe With Nanny

You’ve been crying. It’s obvious and you’re trying to hide it, but you aren’t fooling anyone. Your eyes are red and they hurt, but the tears won’t stop coming and they aren’t helping. Crying is supposed to be cathartic, but not this time. This time it’s just tears and pain, and it doesn’t stop.

“Oh dear me, what’s happened here?” Ashtoreth’s voice is sudden and startles you. The last thing you want is for her to see you like this. Vulnerable. Miserable. Shattered. It’s bad enough you can barely string several words together around her on a good day, much less act like a functional person. Even worse that now you had to go and prove how much of a screw up you are by letting her see you this way.

You quickly turn away and try to dry your eyes, try to pretend you’re busy. Maybe you moved fast enough that you can pretend you didn’t even notice her. Usually you always want to be around her, you go out of your way to find excuses to be near her and help her and hear her voice. But of course, the one time you didn’t want her around, the one time you didn’t want her to see you (not like this not like this), of course she found you first. You flinch, feeling her hand on your shoulder, her strong grip making you turn to face her.

“Dear one, what’s all this?” Her voice is so soft and soothing, but it’s mortifying to be seen this way. Ashtoreth sets a hand on your cheek and you gasp, wanting to run but instead your face rests a little heavier in her palm, desperate for skin-on-skin contact with her. The offer of her touch was worth so much more than the humiliation of being seen in this state, and you were willing to endure it to prolong her touch, the side of her palm on the corner of your lips.

“You’re shaking, sweet thing. Don’t you worry, I’m not going to eat you.” She laughs softly as her other hand moves to the back of your neck, fingernails lightly scratching at your hairline. The distraction of her touch is working. As her fingers fan out over the back of your neck, you feel your panic, your fear, your misery subsiding, maybe not gone, but fading into the background, less important than the warmth of her skin on yours. She gently wipes the tears from under your eyes and they stop immediately, as if they know better than to continue while Ashtoreth is smiling down at you. 

The hand that’s gently touching your face slides downward, her arm wrapping around your back and pulling you tightly to her chest. Your heart is still hammering in your chest, your breath a little too fast, but she whispers into your ear “Breathe with me,” and you can’t help but obey. Your arms wrap around her, hands settled on her back. You cling more than you meant to, your hands shaking a little as you close your eyes and concentrate on the slow in-out rhythm of her breathing. Ashtoreth breathes in deeply, slowly, and holds it, forcing you to breath slowly with her, pausing to hold your breath when she does. She breathes out, her other hand still on the back of your neck, your head at rest on her shoulder as you breathe with her. The calm washes over you as you keep your breathing in sync, feeling Ashtoreth’s heart beating against your chest, her warm arms around you, her soft voice in your ear.

“You did so well. Very good job.”

You’re safely in her hands now, and she won’t let anything hurt you.


End file.
